[GWL]: Toxic topic

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I was incommunicado last week or else would have added my 2 cents earlier. I have read with great satisfaction all of the posts of last week concerning the organic vs. chemical conundrum. I am thrilled to see so many colleagues anxious to learn more about the facts. One post mentioned a garden communicator that said he “wouldn’t touch the topic with a ten foot pole.” I suspect there are many that don’t want to rock the Organic boat. I submit that we and in turn our audiences have succumbed to an insidious marketing ploy in the Organic movement. The word “Organic” to most, has come to symbolize a way of gardening, eating and living in a modern day Eden. Conversely, the word Chemical symbolizes the forbidden fruit. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Many people talk about organic gardening without having a clear definition of the word. In fact most states can’t agree on a common definition for commercial certification. Many defend that it means “non-toxic.” I have read respected contemporaries describe “non-toxic organic pesticides.” The suffix “cide” comes from the Greek meaning to kill. Organically or synthetically it kills! How many realize that Rotenone is more toxic than DDT? “How can this be”, my students ask?  It can be because toxicity is not the point. Organic vs. Chemical is not the point. Persistence in the environment and the bodies of animals is the point. Dosage is the point. Time of application, systemic mode of action and knowing facts such as Rotenone may kill both Lady Bugs and Japanese beetles where a synthetic systemic may only kill the Japanese beetle are the points. But these are difficult complex discussions to research, learn put into print and so many just opt for the easy if grossly inaccurate and unscientific Organic vs. Chemical camp. I suggest and preach the medicinal analogy. We have medicine. It runs the gamut from aspirin to chemotherapy. We all understand that there are great differences along the way and there are different chemical compounds (both organic and synthesized) that treat different afflictions in different ways. Few would ever use the word medicine as a description of one thing and yet that’s exactly what we do with the word, pesticide.  I can forgive an ignorant staff writer at a newspaper for not understanding this and going for sensational words: “Pesticides, Chemicals, Toxic, even noxious but we have no excuse.

Lon, I know this thread has been going on for a while.  In my classes at the New York Botanical Garden, I find this to be the single most confusing, fearsome and charged topic. There is no discussion in gardening about which there is more confusion and more emotions. I’ve had a few students actually get angry with me because they assume that since I’m a garden teacher and communicator, I live my life in an “Organic Style.” But I find it more interesting that in 15 years of lecturing on this topic, 8 out of 10 students crave the real hard facts. They want the science and understanding of the chemistry (organic as well as synthesized) and ultimately, they appreciate that balance and knowledge is not equivalent to eco-terrorism. I care deeply about the environment. I use tons of compost and endeavor to keep my plants healthy to ward off pests. I avoid any kind of spray whenever possible just as I avoid medicines but I’m sure glad we have the medicines at our disposal when we really need them. Real knowledge and understanding are the answer and that’s our job. It’s time for us all to do the hard work and educate ourselves and then pass on that knowledge to our audience. It’s not just a chemical or organic pesticide, what kind of chemical compound is it and how does it work. How many know that the active ingredient in many rat poisons is Warfarin, the exact same active ingredient that’s in Coumadin, the most common heart medicine prescribed to hundreds of thousands of our elderly? What other things don’t you know?  It’s not toxicity, it’s knowledge. Let’s discuss how to obtain that knowledge.

Greg Quinn

40:47:15.799N

73:58:53.018W